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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Better nutrition helps against dementia

If you've ever had or cared for a loved one
suffering from dementia, you know what a hopeless feeling it can be.

Dementia cruelly attacks not only our loved ones' cherished memories and
cognitive skills -- it often leaves them physically and emotionally
wasting away, as they succumb to depression and even begin refusing
foods they once loved.

I understand the heartbreak of caring for a loved one with dementia.

And now there's a ray of hope on the horizon for dementia
sufferers and their caregivers, thanks to an intriguing new study out of Taiwan.

Researchers from the National Yang-Ming University set out to improve
quality of life for millions of people currently suffering from
dementia. And these researchers noticed the same things we all notice --
as many dementia sufferers surrender to depression and cut back on
eating and physical activity, their physical condition declines rapidly.

So instead of attacking the problem with some toxic, side-effect-laden
prescription pill, the researchers tackled the problem another way --
with a fork.

More than five dozen dementia sufferers underwent memory training
exercises that were designed to help them remember proper nutritional
habits and to eat more regularly. The trick, it appears, is to get
patients to remember the same thing over increasing lengths of time.

And if you think memory training can't work for dementia patients, think
again. The patients who received memory training were able to
dramatically slow their emotional and physical declines.

Patients who were trained to remember proper nutrition were able to
increase their body mass index and significantly reduce their scores on a
common depression scale -- all in just six months.

Dementia always effects more than just one person. It takes a terrible physical and
emotional toll on both patients and their caregivers. If a loved one is
suffering from dementia, don't give up hope and don't watch him slowly
disappear into the couch. By working with your loved one to maintain
proper eating habits, you may improve his quality of life and lengthen
the time you have together.

Since nutrition is so important, that also means that proper digestion is right up there. Make sure you are getting a good digestive enzyme.